Pine tree seedlings in different stages of growth
Six of my biggest pine seedlings are now showing signs of their roots coming out of the bottom of their pots. I am planning on moving them to some seven gallon cloth pots and let them grow for another year or so that way to get big enough to put into the ground. Long term the plan is to harvest their pine nuts, from what I have read some the pines I have selected to grow are tasty. Though that is a long way away. Maybe close to 10 years, but never a better time to start than now. The Korean pines should be really tasty as pine nuts, not so sure about the Mondell/Afgan. At least they will look cool against the sea of loblolly and virginia scrub pines.
We can see signs of stress, yellowing on the tips of their pine needles. Good I saw the roots early, probably feeling a little cramped in their little pots they are in now.
Another observation, the pines marked with orange flags are seedlings inoculated with Mycorrhizae. That is a type of fungi and bacteria that help the roots of the plants. To me it seems like those marked in orange are bigger, making me think the powder is helping the roots of those pines.
The blue ones are Mondell Pines, also known as an Afghan Pine. The green ones are Korean Pines.
I finished germinating the last of my Mondel/Afgan pine seeds. Still have a few more of a different species in the fridge for another month or so to match their stratification needs. And once those are sprouted they will go into some of these reds pots, until big enough to finally move onto their final pot before planting the seven gallon pot.
A couple were looking big, but no signs of roots yet. But these should be up next for pots. Looking like this year I will have at least a dozen if not more in seven gallon pots.
So next place those with roots coming out of the bottom into bigger pots, they will hopefully be fine outside during the winter and come out the other side during spring waking up and growing more. We shall see if that works, I hope so. So far they have only been indoor seedlings, so I hope they handle their first winter okay.
Although there is no more knowledge of pine cultivation, I have been growing up in this way. A long time should be waiting for a long time to harvest the fruit of pine. The needles of the sharp leaves of the sharp leaf are thus steaming leaves, right?
Yeah it will be a long wait. It is forming leaves right now.. well needles but that is it's form of leaves.
Looking good! I just visited and old growth white pine forest the other weekend with my wife. It was pretty amazing. Talk about some impressive trees!
Oh very cool. Yeah they get huge
Those looking cute...yes I mean, as i alwsys seen them bigger touching the sky. Never seen them in pods....they will grow bigger once planted.
Hah yeah starting these trees as seeds seems quite funny compared to how big they will get over the years.
With this much care, I'm pretty sure they'll handle their first winter alright...
Hopefully they will. Pine trees seem pretty hardy.
When the forests burned, I grew and planted pine trees.
Ah nice. Hope they are growing back good now.
Yes, it's long and I planted it, now it's a tree
This is the best to watch plants grow… when we saw the root and once when we saw the fruit … both experience is amazing… happy gardening
Yep hopefully the roots will really be able to take off now in the bigger pots.
Thanks
Hope so … happy Friday
These baby pines are growing strong! 👍 But getting pine nuts from them? That’s a tough 10-year wait.
They sure are.
Yep it will be a long wait. But hopefully worth the wait.
It turns out it takes a very long time to get pine nuts. I just found out.
It indeed does. One of the longest waits for a plant to produce food.
That will be awesome when those Korean pines are big enough to produce pine nuts, I'm not familiar with the Afghan pine. But the seedlings look nice so they should be gorgeous trees to enjoy. I personally love pine nuts, but have never harvested them myself, that sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe a little messy too!
Yeah it should be great to see them grow over time. A long way to go right now.
The afghan pines may end up being more ornamental but we shall see.
Nice trees photo!